Unmanned systems exploitation project led by Qinetiq
NewsMay 01, 2020
UNITED KINGDOM. As a part of QinetiQ's ongoing work into unmanned vehicle command and control (C2) for defense applications, the company announced it has recently been awarded a significant new contract to lead phase five of the Maritime Autonomous Platform Exploitation (MAPLE) projects for the U.K. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).
The MAPLE project is the overarching program that seeks to demonstrate and de-risk the integration of multiple unmanned systems into the combat system of a British Royal Navy warship. The MAPLE approach gives the Royal Navy freedom to chose a mix of vehicles and payloads from the market, match them to the mission, and integrate them into a U.K. or multi-national force.
According to officials, the open architecture employed is intended to enable the Royal Navy to change vehicles and payloads as the market and threat evolves while minimizing cost and the impact across defense lines of development (notably integration and training).
Spearheaded by QinetiQ’s Maritime and Land business in partnership with BAE Systems, SeeByte, BMT, L3 Harris, DIEM analytics and Thales, the focus of MAPLE phase five is to specify a core MAPLE system that will enable the U.K. Ministry of Defence to procure a Maritime Autonomous Systems Command and Control (C2) system by generating and validating a robust set of User and System Requirements and a validated and developed architecture.
